Digital journalist and educator

The best PyCon 2015 videos for journalists

PyCon is the world’s biggest conference for Python programmers, with great talks for both veterans and newcomers. And every year, organizers publish videos of talks and workshops for free for all to enjoy.

Here is my selection of videos from this year’s conference in Montreal that I believe are of value for journalists who use Python in their work.

Regular talks

30-minute videos

Bokeh: Interactive data visualization for the web
Although Python is great for getting and crunching data, it’s not known for its ease of sharing data visualizations on the web. Enter Bokeh, a module that creates rich, D3-like interactive visualizations using HTML canvas.

How to be more effective with functions
Functions are a coder’s best friend. They spare you from repeating yourself, and make code portable and reusable. These are tips for making the most out of functions.

How to write reusable code
Journalists work on tight deadlines and must often go back to old code to run regular tasks. Here is some solid advice for doing this well.

Pandas from the ground up
Many people (like me) learn to use pandas through trial and error, learning about data frames and all that you can do with them as the needs arise. This video lays a lot of important foundations for working with data frames.

PostgreSQL proficiency for Python people
When dealing with data, you often have to connect to a database. This is especially true when making data-driven web apps with frameworks like Django. PostgreSQL is a popular choice.

Flask workshop
Django gets a lot of the attention among web frameworks for Python, but Flask can do some heavy lifting, often in simpler ways. It’s especially useful for building web apps with flat HTML files, thanks to the Frozen Flask module.